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Orange and Los Angeles counties, more than 100 clean-up sites will sprout up Saturday — ranging from underwater scuba clean-ups in Dana Point and Redondo Beach harbors, to big beach bashes expected to draw hundreds of people.The debris problem goes beyond the sand.“A lot of people inland think throwing away their trash, or accidentally littering, isn’t a big deal,” said Lauren Smith, volunteer coordinator for Orange County Coastkeeper. “But it, one way or another, gets to the ocean. It’s a great way for people to come together to not only get rid of the trash, but to educate people on how it impacts our environment.”One of the “mega” sites will be at Magnolia Street at Huntington State Beach, where there will be a “Trash Free Jamboree” party following the clean-up, with 600 to 800 people expected to attend. There will be educational booths, raffles, environmental art and food trucks. A similar party will be held at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point.Wetlands, which often are catch areas for trash making its way downstream, will get a much-needed cleaning as well.Smith said California accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of the worldwide tally of trash picked up during the one-day event. This year has been especially filthy along the coast after strong winter storms.But during the summer months, especially toward the end, he said, “it’s more about cleaning up the trash left by beachgoers.” According to the California Coastal Commission, residents and tourists make more than 150 million visits to California beaches each year.The effort to keep shorelines clear of marine debris comes at a cost: 90 West Coast communities spend a total of more than $520 million each year to combat litter, according to a 2012 study.And it’s not just economic impacts. One of the biggest problems with litter is the impact on the environment. Birds, fish and mammals can mistake plastic for food, and an estimated 245 species have been found to have ingested marine debris, according to the Coastal Commission.“Debris may cause choking and injuries, and with plastic filling their stomachs, animals may have a false feeling of being full and may die of starvation. Sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, one of their favorite foods,” according to the commission’s website.Schwartz, the commission’s marine debris program manager, said he’s interested to see what volunteers find this year with all the water that flushed debris down creeks and riverbeds.“I have a feeling we’re going to encounter a lot more trash than we typically would,” he said.Volunteers document the debris they find as a way to educate.“This is our one chance each year to not only clean our beaches, but take a snapshot of what is littering our state,” Schwartz said. “We need everyone’s help — our real one opportunity to make significant changes, not only in the state of our beaches, but policies and educational effort. We have to stop trash from reaching our beaches in the first place.”Despite efforts to curb cigarette butts, they still make up 37 percent to 40 percent of the trash collected. “It’s a very significant problem,” Schwartz said. “They are incredibly toxic to our environment. It’s made of plastic, the same as our sunglasses are made of, it never biodegrades and it leaches toxins into the environment that can kill fish or make our children who ingest them sick.”Recent plastic bag laws, however, have had a big impact. “That’s been a real success story in the state,” he said. In 2008, volunteers picked up 52,544 plastic bags. In 2015, with about the same number of volunteers, there were 23,441 collected, he said.“That’s because so many cities had put bans in place,” he said. “I’ll be very curious to see what the numbers look like moving forward. That’s one of the things about collecting data — it helps us figure out if policies and regulations are working, and here we see that they are.”Environmental advocates are pushing for laws against other trash that is commonly found, including straws and Styrofoam products.“The data helps guide us toward ... (Long Beach Press Telegram)
Orange and Los Angeles counties, more than 100 clean-up sites will sprout up Saturday — ranging from underwater scuba clean-ups in Dana Point and Redondo Beach harbors, to big beach bashes expected to draw hundreds of people.The debris problem goes beyond the sand.“A lot of people inland think throwing away their trash, or accidentally littering, isn’t a big deal,” said Lauren Smith, volunteer coordinator for Orange County Coastkeeper. “But it, one way or another, gets to the ocean. It’s a great way for people to come together to not only get rid of the trash, but to educate people on how it impacts our environment.”One of the “mega” sites will be at Magnolia Street at Huntington State Beach, where there will be a “Trash Free Jamboree” party following the clean-up, with 600 to 800 people expected to attend. There will be educational booths, raffles, environmental art and food trucks. A similar party will be held at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point.Wetlands, which often are catch areas for trash making its way downstream, will get a much-needed cleaning as well.Smith said California accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of the worldwide tally of trash picked up during the one-day event. This year has been especially filthy along the coast after strong winter storms.But during the summer months, especially toward the end, he said, “it’s more about cleaning up the trash left by beachgoers.” According to the California Coastal Commission, residents and tourists make more than 150 million visits to California beaches each year.The effort to keep shorelines clear of marine debris comes at a cost: 90 West Coast communities spend a total of more than $520 million each year to combat litter, according to a 2012 study.And it’s not just economic impacts. One of the biggest problems with litter is the impact on the environment. Birds, fish and mammals can mistake plastic for food, and an estimated 245 species have been found to have ingested marine debris, according to the Coastal Commission.“Debris may cause choking and injuries, and with plastic filling their stomachs, animals may have a false feeling of being full and may die of starvation. Sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, one of their favorite foods,” according to the commission’s website.Schwartz, the commission’s marine debris program manager, said he’s interested to see what volunteers find this year with all the water that flushed debris down creeks and riverbeds.“I have a feeling we’re going to encounter a lot more trash than we typically would,” he said.Volunteers document the debris they find as a way to educate.“This is our one chance each year to not only clean our beaches, but take a snapshot of what is littering our state,” Schwartz said. “We need everyone’s help — our real one opportunity to make significant changes, not only in the state of our beaches, but policies and educational effort. We have to stop trash from reaching our beaches in the first place.”Despite efforts to curb cigarette butts, they still make up 37 percent to 40 percent of the trash collected. “It’s a very significant problem,” Schwartz said. “They are incredibly toxic to our environment. It’s made of plastic, the same as our sunglasses are made of, it never biodegrades and it leaches toxins into the environment that can kill fish or make our children who ingest them sick.”Recent plastic bag laws, however, have had a big impact. “That’s been a real success story in the state,” he said. In 2008, volunteers picked up 52,544 plastic bags. In 2015, with about the same number of volunteers, there were 23,441 collected, he said.“That’s because so many cities had put bans in place,” he said. “I’ll be very curious to see what the numbers look like moving forward. That’s one of the things about collecting data — it helps us figure out if policies and regulations are working, and here we see that they are.”Environmental advocates are pushing for laws against other trash that is commonly found, including straws and Styrofoam products.“The data helps guide us toward ... (and rest of state's beaches, too - this weekend - Long Beach Press Telegram)
